> I will remember that there is art to software engineering as well as technology , and that there is beauty in code. I will not forget that programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.<p>Why is this a part of the oath?<p>> I will use technology for good and for the progress of mankind, free of evil, for the betterment of peoples' lives.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_relativism" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_relativism</a>
I like the idea behind this and there's some good stuff here. This one irked me a little because it's lacking nuance:<p>> I will remember that technology always improves, and will never stop learning, and the purpose of my life will be continuous self-improvement.<p>"The purpose of my life" is too strong of a phrase that makes this one sound like it trumps the others.<p>"Technology always improves" is true at the macro level, but there are a lot of fads, minor regressions, and forgotten gems from the past.
I swear: that I will create websites with sufficient contrast between text and background to enable legibility of textual content.<p><a href="http://www.contrastrebellion.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.contrastrebellion.com/</a>
> I will not be ashamed to say "I know not"<p>If every manager would abide this, my chances of ending up in jail for manslaughter would decrease significantly.
Nicely written! You may also want to take a look at ACM's Software Engineering Code of Ethics[1].<p>[1] <a href="http://www.acm.org/about/se-code" rel="nofollow">http://www.acm.org/about/se-code</a>
I've been programming for 31 years, 22 of which are professional experience. This list was hilarious. If it wasn't meant as a joke then you take yourself way too seriously.
I like the idea of an oath like this and also thought about creating something a bit similar.
Maybe you could call it a "Hippocratic Oath of Computer Science".<p>I think it should be extended to all computer scientists not just programmers (or maybe even all of science).
Some things in the oath should be a lot more explicit and more strict in my opinion.
For example creating or helping create weapons or surveillance technology should be strictly forbidden.
frankly, most of the list is fluff. I would put up there with user privacy, user experience. The mot annoying, dangerous, and demoralizing thing programmers can do is create insecure and badly designed software.